By BERNIE BELLAN The remarkable progress that the members of the Herzlia congregation have made in renovating their building might serve as an example for others in our community of how sheer determination can see a dream turn into reality.

By BEN COHEN JNS org. President Barack Obama is correct. There is, as he said on Tuesday, no realistic prospect of a Palestinian state being created through a diplomatic process for the foreseeable future.

By BERNIE BELLAN The results of the Israeli election came as a bitter disappointment to me. I didn’t really know very much about Zionist Union co-leader Isaac Herzog but, to think that this apparently ineffectual politician presented the best chance for unseating BB Netanyahu didn’t promise much hope for those among us who were hoping to see an end to Likud-dominated coalitions.

By MYRON LOVEWhat does it mean to identify yourself as “progressive”? To me, there is a smugness about the label – a sense that anyone who disagrees with someone who is “progressive” must automatically be labeled as a right wing reactionary fascist (and probably a racist, to boot).

By BERNIE BELLAN I don’t know about you, but when I see something - whether it’s in a newspaper or magazine article or perhaps in an e-mail, that purports to make a claim that seems to defy logic, I don’t immediately run a Google check to see whether there’s anything to that claim. Instead, my usual reaction is: “Wow! I sure didn’t think that was the case.”